Gujarat govt 'contradicts' MHA memo while freeing Bilkis Bano gangrape convicts

By Our Representative
The All-India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA) has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah "must answer for the decision to free Bilkis Bano's gang rapists." In a statement, AIPWA has wondered, "What was the basis of the Gujarat Government’s decision to free those men on August 15, 2022, to celebrate what the PM Modi calls India’s Amrit Kaal? Was remission and freedom a reward for rape and murder of Muslims?"

The statement comes amidst an Ahmedabad-based legal rights non-pofit, which took up the cause of Bilkis Bano and fought her case right up to the Supreme Court, Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), suggesting that the Gujarat government move to allow remission to the convicts contradicts the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Guidelines for Granting Special Remission to Prisoners on August 15, 2022 (75th anniversary of Independence), January 26, 2023, and again on August 15, 2023.
Citing the MHA notification No 17013/37/2021-PR, dated June 10, 2022, an email alert to Counterview by senior CSJ activist Aditya Gujarathi said, "I would like to draw your attention to Paragraph 5(vi) on page 4 of the attached document, which states that prisoners convicted of rape shall not be considered for special remission. Furthermore, 5(ii) also states that prisoners convicted with sentence of life imprisonment also shall not be considered."
AIPWA statment, signed by Rati Rao, Meena Tiwari and Kavita Krishnan, president, general secretary and secretary respectively, asked, were the rapists freed because "one of the women who fought for justice for Muslims killed or raped in the 2002 pogrom, Teesta Setalvad, is now in prison because she helped Zakia Jafri petition Supreme Court hoping to hold the government and police machinery of the day responsible for acts of omission and commission that allowed the pogrom to take place?"

On the 75th anniversary of India’s independence, the 11 men sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering seven Muslims and gang-raping a pregnant Bilkis Bano walked free because the Gujarat Government chose to remit their sentences. "They had committed their crime during the Gujarat 2002 anti Muslim pogrom, which happened when PM Modi was Gujarat CM", the statement said.

They had committed the crime during Gujarat 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom, which happened when Modi was Gujarat CM

It said, "The conviction of communal killers and rapists is after all an aberration in India, not the rule. Does the remission intend to restore the rule of impunity for communal killers and rapists?", adding, "Today it has become commonplace for Hindu-supremacists to openly give calls for genocide and rape of Muslims -- without any consequences. The decision to free Bilkis Bano’s rapists emboldens such men and their followers to act on their threats."
The statement further said, "In India, the godi media anchors (propagandists for the Modi regime and the BJP) like to accuse feminist activists and women’s movement organisations of being 'soft on rapists' because we oppose death penalty for rape. In this case, Bilkis herself had said that she would not demand the death penalty, since she opposed it on principle. Now that the gang rapists are being set free after a mere few years of prison, and will not even serve their life sentence, what do those anchors have to say?"
It asked, "Will they amplify Bilkis’ demand for justice? Will the PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah care to comment on this decision? Are we really to believe that this decision was taken without the blessing of these two topmost leaders of the BJP?", even as terming #India@75 "a day of shame for India’s women, because the ruling BJP chose to make it a day to free Bilkis’ rapists."

Comments

Modi win may force Pak to put Kashmir on backburner, resume trade ties with India

By Salman Rafi Sheikh* When Narendra Modi returned to power for a second term in India with a landslide victory in 2019, his government acted swiftly. Just months after the election, the Modi government abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution of India. In doing so, it stripped the special constitutional status conferred on Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, and downgraded its status from a state with its own elected assembly to a union territory administered by the central government in Delhi.

Tyre cartel's monopoly: Farmers' groups seek legal fight for better price for raw rubber

By Our Representative The All India Kisan Sabha and the Kerala Karshaka Sangham that represents the largest rubber producing state of Kerala along with rubber farmers have sought intervention against the monopoly tyre companies that have formed a cartel against the interests of consumers and farmers. Vijoo Krishnan, AIKS General Secretary, Valsan Panoli, Kerala Karshaka Sangham General Secretary, and four farmers representing different rubber growing regions of Kerala have filed an intervention application in the Supreme Court.

'Assault on civic, academic freedom, right to dissent': TISS PhD student's suspension

By Our Representative The Mumbai-based civil rights group All India Secular Forum (AISF) has said that the suspension of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) PhD student Ramadas Prini Sivanandan (30) for two years for allegedly indulging in activities which were "not in the interest of the nation" is meant to send out the message that students and educational institutes will be targeted if they don’t align with the agenda and ideology of the ruling regime. TISS in a notice served to Ramadas has cited that his role in screening the documentary 'Ram Ke Naam' on January 26 as a "mark of dishonour and protest" against the Ram Mandir idol consecration in Ayodhya. Another incident cited in the notice was Ramadas’ participation in the protest against unfair government policies in Delhi under the banner of the Progressive Students' Forum (PSF)-TISS. TISS alleges the institute's name was "misused", which wrongfully created an impression that

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah* The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

Magnetic, stunning, Protima Bedi 'exposed' malice of sexual repression in society

By Harsh Thakor* Protima Bedi was born to a baniya businessman and a Bengali mother as Protima Gupta in Delhi in 1949. Her father was a small-time trader, who was thrown out of his family for marrying a dark Bengali women. The theme of her early life was to rebel against traditional bondage. It was extraordinary how Protima underwent a metamorphosis from a conventional convent-educated girl into a freak. On October 12th was her 75th birthday; earlier this year, on August 18th it was her 25th death anniversary.

Why it's only Modi ki guarantee, not BJP's, and how Varanasi has seen it up-close

"Development" along Ganga By Rosamma Thomas* I was in Varanasi in this April, days before polling began for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. There are huge billboards advertising the Member of Parliament from Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The only image on all these large hoardings is of the PM, against a saffron background. It is as if the very person of Modi is what his party wishes to showcase.

Joblessness, saffronisation, corporatisation of education: BJP 'squarely responsible'

Counterview Desk In an open appeal to youth and students across India, several student and youth organizations from across India have said that the ruling party is squarely accountable for the issues concerning the students and the youth, including expensive education and extensive joblessness.

Following the 3000-year old Pharaoh legacy? Poll-eve Surya tilak on Ram Lalla statue

By Sukla Sen Located at a site called Abu Simbel in Nubia, Upper Egypt, the eponymous rock temples were created in 1244 BCE, under the orders of Pharaoh Ramesses II (1303-1213 BC)... Ramesses II was fond of showcasing his achievements. It was this desire to brag about his victory that led to the planning and eventual construction of the temples (interestingly, historians say that the Battle of Qadesh actually ended in a draw based on the depicted story -- not quite the definitive victory Ramesses II was making it out to be).

India's "welcome" proposal to impose sin tax on aerated drinks is part of to fight growing sugar consumption

By Amit Srivastava* A proposal to tax sugar sweetened beverages like tobacco in India has been welcomed by public health advocates. The proposal to increase sin taxes on aerated drinks is part of the recommendations made by India’s Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian on the upcoming Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill in the parliament of India.

Poll promises: Political parties 'playing down' need to retrieve and restore adivasi land

By Palla Trinadha Rao* The Scheduled Tribes population of 10.43 crore constitutes 8.6% of the population in the country inhabiting 26 States and 6 Union Territories. Parliament elections along with Assembly elections in some states have been notified this year.

Counterview

Search This Blog